What would you do if you were Bluey?

[LeagueNut]

The thing about Manu is - who have we got to replace him? If Tupou is the 2nd best wing then I don't want to see 3rd.

Harsh on Tupou IMO, he's been one that seems to be having a decent dig every week.

The other option is to choose someone who might not be a "true" winger but is still showing the right attitude and earns a spot - much like the Raiders have done with Jack Wighton. IIRC he'd never played wing consistently but he's wowing them on the flanks in first grade now.

 

[_addict]

Brown to wing?

 

[aargon]

Brown to wing?

or Inu like last year and when at Parra?

 

[vvvrulz]

Brown to wing?

What? No no no, stick to Manu!

 

[jamaman]

Maloney needs to keep the ball down in the Rabbits 22 and force the Rabbits into mistakes!

 

[jamaman]

Brown to wing?

Inu for Tupou
Mannering for Henry
Brown for Friend

 

[aargon]

Inu for Tupou
Mannering for Henry
Brown for Friend

Thats not a bad idea actually....

 

[vvvrulz]

I don't see any problem with Friend at the moment. The only replacements I want to see are Ropati and Benry.

 

[The European Polynesian]

Friend has been one of our better players IMO.

 

[The European Polynesian]

Also, we got smashed on the weekend so today we had to do all our line speed drills on a hill. A bit of punishment never goes to waste but I can't see Bluey taking that hard of a line from the way he comes across. On Fox's NRL show last night someone mentioned that the Warriors spend way too much time playing touch and not enough time doing actual training. Not sure if it was tongue in cheek, an exaggeration or an assumption, but it sure looked like that on Sunday.

 

[Iafeta]

He should make a new policy... any man who races out of the line or jams up to leave a gap bigger than the crevice of a John Holmes victim shall be forcebly given a back, sack and crack. Players don't have to listen to their coach, but they do listen to the whincing of their plums.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Did I see two reference to the "22"?
This isnt union people.
Try 20m.

 

[TheDMC]

He should make a new policy... any man who races out of the line or jams up to leave a gap bigger than the crevice of a John Holmes victim shall be forcebly given a back, sack and crack. Players don't have to listen to their coach, but they do listen to the whincing of their plums.

Umm, what's a back, sack and crack?

 

[TheDMC]

Umm, what's a back, sack and crack?

Umm = I will probably regret asking this...

 

[Rich102]

No! No! No! Don't answer him. PLEASE.

 

[kier]

I think the problem is actually at dummy half. Friend is a great hooker but I think the opposition are targetting him and his energy is sapped by defending. As a result he is less dynamic with ball in hand and our forwards struggle to get a roll on and appear flat footed.

At the moment our poor attack is inviting pressure in defense and the defensive lapses are (imo) enevitable - that's the reality of RL if you don't use the ball effectively you suffer later when you have to defend. Great 'defensive sides' are also no slouches when running the ball. I'm not saying there aren't mistakes in the centre/wing areas but this is where most tries are scored and it's easy to lay the blame on the final defender. I believe it's the structure of our attack that's creating these problems. Just changing the personel at wing or centre won't make a difference - whoever is put into those roles will currently be made to look incompetent. The way the entire team is playing has to be addressed.

The Warriors pack is formidable but is quite traditional in its make up - especially in our props (Mateo being the only exception). If they get a roll on they will stream-roller most opposition. BUT they need to be launched into the opposition via a quick ptb and deft dummy half play that keeps the opposing line/markers guessing.


In the past we've often had several adept dummy half specialists in the 17 - often several would be in the pitch at the same time - opposition defenders close to the ruck would be kept guessing....and the consequence would be good metres up the middle. What was missing then were ball players out wide to capitalise on the forward momentum.

We now have the ball players but the sole responsibility for beginning the attacking momentum rests with Friend and, as I said at the start, he's been taken out of the game by being targetted by the opposition.

So - to cut to the chase....if I were coaching I'd use Locke more in attack as an second dummy half (early in the set). With Johnson, Mateo and Maloney we have players who can terrorise an opposition once we're moving forward - I think a combination of Friend and Locke at the ptb would be incredibly effective in getting this going.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Disagree on Friend. he's a smaller guy so he'll get targeted, but he's not doing anything extra he wasn't doing at the Titans.

If there's one issue I have with our hit up play it's that the reciever is standing way too close to the dummy half, not just flat, but it's like watching a succession of short pop passes. That makes it very easy for the markers to come across and make tackles, it allows outside men to jam in and hit them from the outside in, and if either of those things cause the player to adjust then they're either going to run back into the marker or drop the ball.

Locke is really starting to develop as a playmaking fullback, slotting him in at dummy half might provide a slight bit of spark but you'll lose even more elsewhere.

 

[wikileaks]

iM WITH kIER,more fizz from dummyhalf to get our sets going.With Locke and even Johnson making some scoots,then Friend bringing our big men on to the ball.In my view once raiders forwards got defensively confident against us we didnt offer to much up the middle.

 

[aargon]

Most opposing teams have figured our weakness is out wide - I don't think you can solely blame Ropati for this as he wasn't around in 2011 - case in point the grand final - Manly's strategy was to attack us on the rims - spin it wide and attack big Manu's wing. I think teams were doing that all season in 2011 and its no different in 2012. I think Clearly master plan to counter that strategy, was to have Manu and the line rush up against the attack to hopefully suffocate them and not give away any space. Unfortunately it was too blatantly obvious what they were doing which lead to that little chip kick by Stewart which ultimately lead to Manly scoring that amazing try in the dying minute before half time. Had Manu stayed back and not rushed up everything single time, there's no way Stewart would have tried that chip kick…. I still get a rush of blood watching that grand final… must have watched it about 20 plus time now… even though we lost, it was hell of a good game...

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

Most opposing teams have figured our weakness is out wide - I don't think you can solely blame Ropati for this as he wasn't around in 2011 - case in point the grand final - Manly's strategy was to attack us on the rims - spin it wide and attack big Manu's wing. I think teams were doing that all season in 2011 and its no different in 2012. I think Clearly master plan to counter that strategy, was to have Manu and the line rush up against the attack to hopefully suffocate them and not give away any space. Unfortunately it was too blatantly obvious what they were doing which lead to that little chip kick by Stewart which ultimately lead to Manly scoring that amazing try in the dying minute before half time. Had Manu stayed back and not rushed up everything single time, there's no way Stewart would have tried that chip kick…. I still get a rush of blood watching that grand final… must have watched it about 20 plus time now… even though we lost, it was hell of a good game...

Agreed it was a good GF (Ignoring the points in the end) way better than our 2002 Final (Damn you Villsanti for 02 and Manly for 11)